Coach in his first year leading the team

Published: Friday, March 15, 2013 at 11:00 AM.

RICHLANDS — From
7:35 a.m.
to
2:35 p.m.
during the week, Mark Lunceford is an Electrical Trades and Core and Sustainable Construction teacher at Richlands High.

Once the final bell of the day rings, however, the 54-year-old Lunceford heads to the softball field.

And while he’s still learning the ropes — or in his case how to give the Wildcats a spark — he knows there’s a correlation between his day job and his being the new softball coach at Richlands, which has been one of the area’s better softball programs in recent seasons.

“I think we stress developing skills and developing confidence in the
CTE
department and those things carry over to softball,” Lunceford said before practice this week. “When you’re in the batter’s box, you are all alone and it’s up to you, and when you are on the mound, you are all alone and it’s up to you. When you play a position, it’s up to you.

“But at the same time, you got to bring them together and play as a team. I think it’s a close comparison, I really do.”

Lunceford, a Richlands teacher for eight years, took over the softball program after coach Jay Fields retired after last season. Lunceford had served as an assistant for the last six years and he has been a student of the game since his daughter Casey picked up the sport when she was younger.

Thus far, Lunceford has enjoyed leading the Wildcats (4-2, 0-1 East Central 2-A Conference, who play host to
ECC
rival
East Duplin
tonight.

RICHLANDS — From 7:35 a.m. to 2:35 p.m. during the week, Mark Lunceford is an Electrical Trades and Core and Sustainable Construction teacher at Richlands High.

Once the final bell of the day rings, however, the 54-year-old Lunceford heads to the softball field.

And while he’s still learning the ropes — or in his case how to give the Wildcats a spark — he knows there’s a correlation between his day job and his being the new softball coach at Richlands, which has been one of the area’s better softball programs in recent seasons.

“I think we stress developing skills and developing confidence in the CTE department and those things carry over to softball,” Lunceford said before practice this week. “When you’re in the batter’s box, you are all alone and it’s up to you, and when you are on the mound, you are all alone and it’s up to you. When you play a position, it’s up to you.

“But at the same time, you got to bring them together and play as a team. I think it’s a close comparison, I really do.”

Lunceford, a Richlands teacher for eight years, took over the softball program after coach Jay Fields retired after last season. Lunceford had served as an assistant for the last six years and he has been a student of the game since his daughter Casey picked up the sport when she was younger.

Thus far, Lunceford has enjoyed leading the Wildcats (4-2, 0-1 East Central 2-A Conference, who play host to ECC rival East Duplin tonight.

“I never wanted to be (a head coach). When coach Fields retired and the position was open and me being a teacher here on staff, they asked me if I wanted to step up and take it,” Lunceford said.

“At first, I was a little apprehensive about it because I would have loved to have seen some new blood come in and I was a little unsure about the responsibilities. Building a team and trying to change some things are always hard.

“But it’s worked out. Coaching is full of challenges. It’s full of challenges, but I have enjoyed it. I think the girls are representing the community well, their attitudes have been great and the work ethic has been pretty good. I’m pleased so far.”

The Wildcats feature just three seniors in Amber Wargo, Michelle Parks and Soraya Kornegay and five juniors, including Casey Lunceford, Mariah McCahan and Rachel Pierce.

“The rest are sophomores,” Lunceford said. “Soraya has been a team captain for the last two years and she’s shown some solid leadership, and I got some underclassmen that I’m using as captains, also.

“We still got a lot of work ahead of us, but … establishing the JV team was one of my priorities because we had not had one in a while.”

Lunceford hopes the first-year JV squad will help keep the Wildcats as one of the area’s better programs.

“A lot of girls play travel ball, but we also have a lot of girls who are fairly good athletes but who have never played that much softball,” he said. “This year we had real good numbers. It gave the opportunity to a lot of underclassmen who maybe wouldn’t get a chance to play softball.”

But while establishing the JV program was one of Lunceford’s goals, it’s not the only thing on his agenda. He wants Richlands to win games, play the game the right way and for players to be able to take what they have learned from the diamond with them in life.

“It’s always rewarding to see kids grow and mature,” Lunceford said. “Wins and losses, I’m not saying they’re not important, but building character is probably one of the biggest satisfactions on my end of the game and that applies to the classroom as well.”

Still, Lunceford knows people like winners, and he wants to help keep the Wildcats a competitive team. Richlands finished second in the state in 2-A in 2009 and has typically played well in the tough ECC.

The Wildcats, however, have plenty to work on, their coach said.

“We coaches need to work a little harder to get them mentally and physically prepared for a game. We don’t need to wait until the fourth of fifth inning to start playing ball. We have been slow starters for most of our games,” Lunceford said. “We just have to build some consistency. The skill level is there, I just think a lot of it is we are a young team and a lot of nerves come into affect.

“But I’m optimistic. Naturally I hope to do well because we have a lot of talent. It’s just figuring where to plug it in.”